Today we published a detailed analysis of search innovation techniques by Nitin Karandikar. The post is long, but well worth reading if you are interested in where search is headed. To complement the post, we're running a poll asking which of the 4 categories of search innovation that Nitin identified, do you think is key to the next generation of search? The 4 categories are:
Here is the poll:
Written by Nitin Karandikar
There are an abundance of new search engines (100+ at last count ) - each pioneering some innovation in search technology. Here is a list of the top 17 innovations that, in our opinion, will prove disruptivein the future. These innovations are classified into four types: Query Pre-processing; Information Sources; Algorithm Improvement; Results Visualization and Post-processing.
[Some of these innovations are present in various Google properties, but are either missing or available only in limited form in the main search page, as noted below.]
The main purpose of this type of enhancement is the application of logic to try to divine the user's intent, and apply that knowledge to improve the query specification.
1. Natural Language Processing
This feature was initially pioneered by Ask.com. The best-known contemporary examples are Hakia and Powerset, both of which (in different ways) try to understand the semantics or meaning behind the user's query. The big difference from Google is that these engines consider "stopwords" to be significant - minor connecting words like by, for, about, of, in - unlike Google, which discards them.
Last week's Read/WriteWeb poll asked what you thought of Silverlight, Microsoft's newly improved rich internet app plug-in that was launched to (unusually) rave blog reviews at MIX on Monday. Some people even said that Silverlight leaves Adobe's Flash technology in the dust, which is a big claim to make given that Flash is still extremely popular with designers - and for users it's a slick rich media browser plug-in. Also the days of usablity 'gurus' complaining about Flash splash pages is mostly gone. Nowadays Flash is used to create compelling multimedia browser experiences. So to my mind, Flash still reigns supreme - until such time as we see similar ubiquity and/or outstanding browser experiences from Silverlight.
Also let's not forget that Adobe has been in this game for far longer than Microsoft, so it seems odd that Silverlight is being pumped up as a Flash killer. Don't get me wrong, Silverlight is very promising. From a technical standpoint, it would be difficult to argue against Nik Cubrilovic's detailed review. But let's not call it a Flash-killer just yet, until we see some actual web app evidence that it's better than Flash. Will designers take to Silverlight like they adopted Flash on masse? That is probably the key question.
In any case, our poll suggests that most people are indeed impressed by Silverlight. 23% rated it "awesome" and 32% "promising". So over half give it the thumbs up. 25% of respondants rated it "meh", but only 9% said it's terrible. Also there's a little confusion out there about what Silverlight is and does, with 11% not sure what it is. We'll look to address that this week with an explanatory post about Silverlight.
Written by Jay Fortner and edited by Richard MacManus
In a big move for Web Office vendor Zimbra, Comcast has teamed up with Zimbra, Plaxo, and HP to announce the SmartZone Communication Hub - a tightly integrated web-based communication app that will merge email, voicemail, IM, and an address book. Comcast is the second largest ISP provider in the US, after AT&T and larger than AOL. It is also one of the largest providers of cable television, entertainment, and digital communications in the U.S. So this a big coup for Zimbra and Plaxo (more on that below). As for HP, they will be assisting in integrating the data, voice, and video services on the SmartZone platform.
SmartZone homepage
Comcast will provide this new web based application at no charge for their customers, through Comcast.net. It is scheduled to be released towards the end of this year. This is part of the new generation of Comcast’s consumer triple play (voice, data, and video) services. For Zimbra, it is their largest partnership to date.
Well
it's been another great trip to the USA! I've visited San Francisco (for Web 2.0
Expo), Las Vegas for MIX (courtesy of Microsoft New Zealand) and finally a
couple of days in Los Angeles (just to see the sights!). Tonight I head back to
New Zealand, getting set for full-time blogging again on Monday. As well as
catching up with all the news and emails on Monday - both of which I am
hopelessly behind in, due to travel - I have changes to the Read/WriteWeb site
and business that I'm itching to implement!
Funny how every time I visit Silicon Valley, I find it hard to blog. Too many distractions and the usual work routine goes out the window. But on this trip, I was fortunate to have Josh Catone guest edit Read/WriteWeb last week - allowing me to have an actual holiday (gasp! yes one of those things where you don't do any work...I'd forgotten the concept until last week). In addition to his own excellent posts, Josh did a great job doing the behind-the-scenes editing. So a big thanks to Josh for running the R/WW ship while I was on a boat to Alcatraz (see pic on the right)! Also of course thanks to the other R/WW writers for contributing and to our readers for the thoughtful discussions in the comments and by trackback.
Also while I'm thanking people, I want to mention Read/WriteWeb's sponsors:
The firestorm that erupted at Digg earlier this week over a censored post has led to a lot of discussion about the nature of censorship in a world where everyone is a publisher. Called "The Great Digg Revolt," by some, the incident illustrated how much power users have over the social sites they contribute to. First, though, here's a summary of what happened for those few of you who have been living in a cave:
Yahoo! is
set to announce that it will close its online photosharing website Yahoo! Photos in favor of Flickr, the web 2.0 darling that it purchased two years
ago. According to web metrics firm Hitwise, Yahoo! Photos is currently the number 2 photo
website on the web, behind Photobucket, which has seized 40% of the market on the back of
strong usage among MySpace visitors. Over 50% of Photobucket's traffic comes from
MySpace, compared to around 3% for Yahoo! Photos.
Flickr, meanwhile, has gained on Yahoo!'s main photo property, jumping from the #6 photo website last year, to the #3 position today. According to Charlene Li of Forrester Research, the move is a no-brainer.
Earlier
this week eBay launched ToGo Widgets for any
listing. These slick, Flash-based widgets can be embedded into blogs, social network
profiles and in general any page that does not explicitly forbid Flash. The idea is
simple - let users promote their eBay activity everywhere online. Sounds simple - and one
can't help but wonder what took them so long? To answer this question, we decided to look
at other things that eBay has released recently, to try to decipher the strategy and
competitive plays of this web giant.
The bottom section of eBay's from page features their new releases. Right away we noticed that there is a big range of services aiming at different user activities. The first service is Deal Finder, a combination of a simple dashboard and search that allows users to see featured hot deals - as well as search for hot deals by keyword. The 'hotness' of the deal is determined by a combination of price and expiration of the auction.
All the buzz here at
Microsoft MIX in Vegas is rightly about Silverlight, but one other impressive demo I came
across was a Vista gadget (a.k.a. widget) for Disney. Entertainment and Devices Division
President Robbie Bach was on the main stage yesterday, talking about marketing
Microsoft's connected entertainment services. One of the case studies wheeled out was
Disney, which -
as The Seattle Times reports - is working with Microsoft and large OEMs selling
computers in China to install a software gadget on new PC desktops. The gadget features
content meant to attract people to the company's Hong Kong theme park. Bach pointed out
that Vista's gadgets (mini web apps that run on your desktop) are a way for brands such
as Disney to establish a presence on "some of the most valuable real estate in the home"
- i.e. the PC desktop. The Seattle Times goes on:
Following my
analysis of TheFind, a lifestyle shopping service, in this post I will explore Wize - product research engine. Note that I have also
reviewed the business story of Wize on my
personal blog. So now let's take a look at their actual product using my Web 3.0 framework.
The Context in which you would come to Wize is Product Research. The key to Wize is the Wize Rank, which is algorithmically derived from Expert Reviews and User Reviews, culled from all over the web.
